Factors enhancing production efficiency of farmer households who are members of saving groups in Upper Northern Thailand

The objectives of this paper are to evaluate production efficiency of farmer households and to analyze factors affecting production efficiency of farmer households being saving group members in upper northern areas. The data are collected from 399 farmer households in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces and assessed by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Tobit model. The results reveal that farmer households have production efficiency in quite low level. Moreover, age of household head, scales of farm, characteristics of only rice farming, characteristics of only livestock, and total loans are the significant determinants affecting production efficiency of farmer households who are the saving group members. The findings of this paper contribute useful guidelines to related agencies for promoting and improving production efficiency of farmer households and bring about farmers’ income and quality of life enhancement in the future.